Cyclone Bola (1988)

Basin

South Pacific

Dates

February 23, 1988 to March 11, 1988

Peak strength

Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)

Lowest pressure

940 mb (27.76 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 33 km (21 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

24.2

Fastest the center moved

23 kt (26 mph)

Identifier

SH131988

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Pacific · 1988Tropical Storm35 kt
• Cyclone AgiSouth Pacific · 1988Cat 170 kt · 980 mb
• Cyclone AnneSouth Pacific · 1988Cat 5140 kt · 925 mb
• Tropical Storm CharlieSouth Pacific · 1988Tropical Storm50 kt · 972 mb
• Tropical Storm CillaSouth Pacific · 1988Tropical Storm55 kt · 970 mb
• Cyclone DoviSouth Pacific · 1988Cat 170 kt · 975 mb
• Tropical Storm DoviSouth Pacific · 1988Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

• Wikipedia article: Cyclone Bola